“Bones & Boy Scouts”
Crystal and I went camping
with Troop 138 at Blue Springs, near the Niangua River, in the Ozark
Mountains. Friday night was cold and windy, and Saturday night was calm
but even colder... a
brisk 17 degrees.
On Saturday, we took the scouts on an Adventure Hike: no maps or bearings, just a general understanding of where we had to go. The other leaders went ahead in a truck with our lunch, and we had to navigate around a river, cliffs, and a lot of fields and forests. (Yes, food still works as a great motivator for teenagers!)
About 250 yards from the campsite, we ran into the river, and the scouts were trying to figure out how to get across. That's when I pointed out that we might look for a way around the river. Sure enough, the river doubled back, and we were able to hike to the cliffs without getting wet. We told the scouts that they had to either get around or climb up the cliffs, and being boys, they all wanted to climb.
I had brought along a rope just for that reason, and so we did a little exploring and a lot of climbing. I taught them a rappelling-style technique using a rope but no harness, which is called a Swiss Rescue Loop, and everybody tried it. It took us almost an hour to check out everything and to climb to the top, and the cliffs were probably the highlight of the weekend.
At the top we found a large rectangular pile of rocks, and the scouts discussed what they thought it could have been. Had they discovered an ancient Indian burial site? We allowed their imaginations to run wild. Then we walked down the other side and into a cow pasture. Crystal saw some animal droppings and asked the scouts if they could identify them; they were from a coyote. As we walked along, one scout pointed to some other droppings, and asked Crystal if they were from a cow. Crystal picked it up (with her gloves) and smelled it, and pronounced that it was definitely from a cow. From that moment on, the scouts thought that Crystal was cool, even if she was "a girl."
As we hiked through the cow pasture, we also came upon a herd of cows, and a HUGE bull, who (thankfully) was more interested in napping than chasing kids. It was probably the quietest moment of the weekend, as the scouts tried to be like "stealthy Indians." Later, we ran across the bones of several long-dead cows, and the scouts picked out the ones that they thought looked the "neatest" and took them. (We later taught them how to disinfect the bones.)
We finally saw the truck that belonged to one of the other leaders, sitting on a distant hill. We walked down the hill that we were on and up the next hill, only to find that the truck was no longer there. I told the scouts they had to find the tracks and follow them to the truck if they wanted any cheeseburgers. It didn't take them long to find the truck. It was a good lunch, and a great day.
The scouts were still pretty excited and energetic that night, and I was beginning to wonder how we would get them to go to sleep, but they quickly scrambled into their tents when the coyotes started howling. It was the second quietest moment of the trip. We fell asleep listening to the various packs in the nearby mountains, and we felt like we were on a real adventure.
Of course, the real adventure would be trying to explain all of those bovine bones to the scouts' parents.
© 1999 Douglas Shaw.On Saturday, we took the scouts on an Adventure Hike: no maps or bearings, just a general understanding of where we had to go. The other leaders went ahead in a truck with our lunch, and we had to navigate around a river, cliffs, and a lot of fields and forests. (Yes, food still works as a great motivator for teenagers!)
About 250 yards from the campsite, we ran into the river, and the scouts were trying to figure out how to get across. That's when I pointed out that we might look for a way around the river. Sure enough, the river doubled back, and we were able to hike to the cliffs without getting wet. We told the scouts that they had to either get around or climb up the cliffs, and being boys, they all wanted to climb.
I had brought along a rope just for that reason, and so we did a little exploring and a lot of climbing. I taught them a rappelling-style technique using a rope but no harness, which is called a Swiss Rescue Loop, and everybody tried it. It took us almost an hour to check out everything and to climb to the top, and the cliffs were probably the highlight of the weekend.
At the top we found a large rectangular pile of rocks, and the scouts discussed what they thought it could have been. Had they discovered an ancient Indian burial site? We allowed their imaginations to run wild. Then we walked down the other side and into a cow pasture. Crystal saw some animal droppings and asked the scouts if they could identify them; they were from a coyote. As we walked along, one scout pointed to some other droppings, and asked Crystal if they were from a cow. Crystal picked it up (with her gloves) and smelled it, and pronounced that it was definitely from a cow. From that moment on, the scouts thought that Crystal was cool, even if she was "a girl."
As we hiked through the cow pasture, we also came upon a herd of cows, and a HUGE bull, who (thankfully) was more interested in napping than chasing kids. It was probably the quietest moment of the weekend, as the scouts tried to be like "stealthy Indians." Later, we ran across the bones of several long-dead cows, and the scouts picked out the ones that they thought looked the "neatest" and took them. (We later taught them how to disinfect the bones.)
We finally saw the truck that belonged to one of the other leaders, sitting on a distant hill. We walked down the hill that we were on and up the next hill, only to find that the truck was no longer there. I told the scouts they had to find the tracks and follow them to the truck if they wanted any cheeseburgers. It didn't take them long to find the truck. It was a good lunch, and a great day.
The scouts were still pretty excited and energetic that night, and I was beginning to wonder how we would get them to go to sleep, but they quickly scrambled into their tents when the coyotes started howling. It was the second quietest moment of the trip. We fell asleep listening to the various packs in the nearby mountains, and we felt like we were on a real adventure.
Of course, the real adventure would be trying to explain all of those bovine bones to the scouts' parents.
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